For the legislators, mixing politics and medicine is a double-edged sword

“There are 12 medical doctors, 3 dentists, and 3 nurses in Congress, and most did not publicly invoke their medical experience during the Schiavo debate. Among them was Senator Tom Coburn, Republican of Oklahoma and a family practice doctor, who said in an interview, ‘I don’t think you have to examine her. All you have to do is look at her on TV. Any doctor with any conscience can look at her and know that she does not have a terminal disease and know that she has some function.'”

I’m a doctor, and there is no way I can look at her image on a TV screen and come up with any informed medical opinion. I’m not sure how they can either.

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